Visit to Clarisys Auditoriums + CH Precision System in Spokane, Washington

[Ron Resnick]

I am on my way to audition a WBF member's state-of-the-art system in Spokane, Washington.

On the Way to Spokane, WA, to Audition S.O.T.A. Loudspeakers with CH Precision #highendaudio

youtube.com

 

[Ron Resnick]

Please enjoy my interview with Cyrus, a What's Best Forum member in Spokane, WA, who recently installed one of the first pairs of Clarisys Auditorium loudspeakers in the USA, with CH Precision L10 and M10 electronics and Ideon DAC:

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[cjfrbw]

Wow. When you said SOTA, you weren't exaggerating. I guess the 'subjective' report comes later?

 

[the sound of Tao]

Please enjoy my interview with Cyrus, a What's Best Forum member in Spokane, WA, who recently installed one of the first pairs of Clarisys Auditorium loudspeakers in the USA, with CH Precision L10 and M10 electronics and Ideon DAC:

Thanks Ron, another really good interview and many thanks for introducing us to Cyrus and his amazing setup… there are so many different takes on what a sound system can be and it’s great to share in everyone’s aspirations… that’s definitely a valuable thing for the forum and the community.

 

[ashandger]

Many thanks for your report Ron. Do you know the room dimensions? Many thanks

 

[Golum]

Wow, what a phenomenal system and room!!
Thanks for sharing Ron!

 

[rad]

Thanks Ron! Excellent Report! Keep up the great work.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Wow. When you said SOTA, you weren't exaggerating. I guess the 'subjective' report comes later?

Different people subjectively like different kinds of sonic presentations from loudspeakers. I have been a planar dipole person my entire audio life. I simply like -- especially for vocals -- the presentation of planar dipoles over the presentation of box speakers. So, to start with, loudspeakers like this are easy for me to like.

I believe very strongly that no loudspeaker is perfect. If one is being intellectually honest no loudspeaker does everything better than every other loudspeaker.

Despite controversy, I still hold my view that certain types of loudspeakers achieve a more convincing illusion of live music on certain types of music than other loudspeakers. For example I still think there is something about the way that horn loudspeakers move air and reproduce music that is consonant with the way that brass instruments themselves make their sounds. I continue to believe that if my primary musical genre interest were jazz, then I would have a horn loudspeaker (maybe Tune Audio Avaton (heard and loved) or Destination Audio Vista (never heard)).

Presently I think the Auditorium is, overall, for the sonic attributes I value most, the best (i) truly full-range, (ii) one-piece, (iii) planar dipole loudspeaker I have ever heard on a long audition in a private home.*

Perhaps the highest treble on cymbals isn't as 100% perfect to my ears as the Magnepan ribbon tweeter. (The Magnepan ribbon tweeter is my favorite tweeter of all time.)

Perhaps the lowest frequencies don't physically move as much air as a Gryphon tower of powered woofers. (I think those Gryphon woofer towers are absolutely brilliant, and I think they give me the best, or equal to the best, bass reproduction I've ever heard.) But these are cosmopolitan quibbles. And it's pretty wild to feel the kind of oomph and impact from mere panels that the Auditoriums deliver.

And these quibbles might prove in time to be incorrect, as I auditioned the speakers with digital, which is not my cup of tea, and with solid-state, which is not my cup of tea. So these quibbles might be overturned with an analog source and with tube electronics.


I thought piano sounded amazing. Piano sounded to me very much like how it sounds on big Magnepans (which is to say I think sounds very convincing), but faster and more impactful.

I have to think about image size of solo vocalists. I think that with wide planar dipoles one has to be careful not to lose a clearly-defined center image for a solo vocalist's head.

Cyrus wondered about putting the tweeter ribbons on the outside, rather than on the inside, to achieve a wider soundstage. I told him that theorizing is no substitute for experimenting in one's own room (good advice I should be better about taking for myself), but I think the diminution of a clearly-defined center image for a vocalist likely would exceed the gain from a slightly wider soundstage.

I stand by my very first initial impression from hearing Clarisys (the small Minuets) for the first time at AXPONA in April 2023 written here on WBF on April 20, 2023:


As a lifelong planar aficionado here is the key thing to understanding the achievement of Clarisys: people may love the transparency and openness and believability of planar loudspeakers, but there always has been a conscious and explicit compromise regarding dynamic oomph and impact. I love the transparency and openness of [Analysis Audio, Magnepans, Martin-Logans, etc.] but I am missing the dynamic oomph and impact of cones and the tonal density of cones in the upper bass to lower midrange region.

The achievement of Clarisys loudspeakers is to vanquish this previously unavoidable sonic compromise. Anyone who heard the Minuets at AXPONA will report convincing tonal density and texture in the upper bass to lower midrange region, as well as fully-impactful oomph and dynamics. For someone who likes the presentation of planar loudspeakers there no longer needs to be an excuse, a justification, a weighing of advantages and disadvantages, a rationalization for forfeiting dynamics and power in the low frequencies to enjoy those planar advantages. This loudspeaker design truly does it all.

* Please note: I have never heard an Alsyvox loudspeaker on a long audition in a private home. I am hoping to audition leisurely the Alsyvox either at Bob Vineyard's or a friend in the Netherlands. Alsyvox and Clarisys are the two new heavyweights in the planar loudspeaker world. Frankly, there's no way I am not going to like the Alsyvox as well. I have heard it briefly three times, and it, too, is amazing, especially for planar aficionados like me. But it will be very interesting to try to tease out any differences between them that I can discern.

 

[PeterA]

Ron, nice interview. I enjoy these glimpses into fellow members' listening rooms. I also appreciate that you included at the end some samples of how this system actually sounds. It is good to be able to hear the description from the owner of the system and room, and then to hear the sound via a system video on YouTube.

I noticed the sound does not change when the image goes from the listening seat to a close up behind the speaker. Is the music track separate from the video? Could you describe the method you used to make the recording of the sound of the system? Thank you.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron, nice interview.

Thank you.

I enjoy these glimpses into fellow members' listening rooms.

Good! I remember that you are one of the members who requested these WBF member visits/interviews.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I noticed the sound does not change when the image goes from the listening seat to a close up behind the speaker. Is the music track separate from the video? Could you describe the method you used to make the recording of the sound of the system?

When I have the system playing music and I record the music from the system using the internal stereo microphone on the Canon video camera, I usually keep the camera fixed on the tripod approximately at the listening position.

The close-ups you see are video clips with no attached audio. So while the audio track is from the camera fixed at the listening position, I edit in video close-ups with no audio. So the video changes, but the audio stays constant.

 

[bonzo75]

For example I still think there is something about the way that horn loudspeakers move air and reproduce music that is consonant with the way that brass instruments themselves make their sounds.

Brass, piano, violin, cello, tympani, and drums.

 

[Folsom]

Brass, piano, violin, cello, tympani, and drums.

If you put one of your favorite stereos as the electronics and source side with them (if it had enough watts for 90db) then I bet you would get a lot more of the sound you like than you would ever expect. They are so much more capable than other speakers, it is pretty interesting to hear them when you change anything in the stereo.

 

[Ron Resnick]

It's no surprise at all that I like these planar dipole speakers. It's actually much more interesting to me that Folsom likes them as much as he does.

 

[Republicoftexas69]

Ron nice interview, thank you.